"My Hair is on Fire" is made as an associative response to the craziness coming out of Washington DC. It is how I feel. The holding of a small animal is to try and find some solace, some innocence. I started out with a friendly little dog, but it morphed into a little bambi. Don't ask me why.

Working on cardboard gives opportunity to improvisation, change of plans AND definition. I like the physical depth it creates.

I bike everywhere and notice the discarded waste everywhere. I think it's something we have to accept, much as I'd like (and do try) to change it. I've been finding a lot of beauty in some of it, and, lately, I've been emoting with it! I feel like a cast-out piece of trash sometimes. I feel spent and used at times. I also know my time, like the use of these items, is finite. And that my time in some peoples' lives ends before my time actually does, kind of like the residual trash of another act--once that iced coffee drink is done, the plastic to-go cup is not.

The work also takes further Duchamp's ready-made (I know--how trite! Bear with me!). Not only are these objects already made, they are already imbued with history--something essential to art. They have been altered from their original (be it hand or machine-made) by human and environmental interaction, and tell this story in their form, as well as by our understanding and associations with the item (for example, a Dutch Bros plastic cup).

Additionally, I am referencing Arte Povera from the 1960s and 70s, primarily in Italy.

The Littlest Gallery's first show is a piece by Jen G. Pywell, Ugly Art Room's founder, titled "We're Going to Have Fun in Here!" 2017, Graphite on Paper, 18 x24." She renders a child smushing her face up against the glass, and it results in a lighthearted, silly and strange face that distorts the features in a way that obscures what is happening in the scene. The drawing takes advantage of the space for what it is - a glass door and even the actual paper is pressed against it, in an effort to draw viewers in. The artist hopes that ouside reflections on the glass enhance the effect of the face against the glass. The piece is meant to invite fun and whimsy to the gallery.